


Serenade

by Hear_the_Dokidoki



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: AU where Mark grew up in Montreal instead of Vancouver, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dialogue Heavy, M/M, Pining, and therefore speaks French
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-21
Updated: 2019-04-23
Packaged: 2020-01-23 15:01:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18552154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hear_the_Dokidoki/pseuds/Hear_the_Dokidoki
Summary: At random moments, for no apparent reason, Donghyuck will request a song, and Mark will find himself obliging. Then, for 3 or 4 minutes, Donghyuck will give him his undivided attention, and Mark will have to pretend that it doesn’t make him so nervous he might faint.In which Mark serenades Donghyuck in French because he’s in love (but also kind of a coward)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> **The premise is from[ne vois-tu pas que je t'aime](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17847854), by dumbnoah.**
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> (check it out, it's lovely!)
> 
> Also, yes, hi. This is 100% self-indulgent, I mostly just wanted to write Mark cursing with expressions exclusive to Québec. Even if you don't speak French, it'll make some kind of sense, but like dfghjk. I actually wanted to make this a crack, but Markhyuck makes me soft af and this somehow happened ://
> 
> For a better understanding, here's a list of the songs used in the story:  
> \- Emmenez-moi, Aznavour  
> \- Quelqu'un m'a dit, Carla Bruni  
> \- Je l'aime à mourir, Cabrel 
> 
> On se lance, les amis!

“Emmenez-moi au bout de la Terre… Emmenez-moi au pays des merveilles,” Marks sings softly, watching the city’s nightscape through the car’s window.

“Is that French?”

Mark glances back, meeting Donghyuck’s round eyes.

“Yup,” he replies. “It’s a song.”

There’s a sense of wonder on the younger’s face. “It sounds nice,” he declares. “I like it.”

Mark blinks. “You do?”

“Yeah,” Donghyuck says with a shrug. “Can you sing for me?”

“What?” he asks, lips curving a dumbfounded smile.

Donghyuck brings a hand to his heart.

“Serenade me, hyung,” he demands solemnly.

“Shut up,” Mark fires back, looking away, and he can feel his ears turning bright red.

A smile blossoms on the younger’s face. “For real. I like your singing voice.”

Marks studies him for a second. “Okay,” he lets out.

And he sings for Donghyuck.

 

︵‿︵‿୨ ✼ ୧‿︵‿︵

From then on, it kinda becomes their thing. At random moments, for no apparent reason, Donghyuck will request a song, and Mark will find himself obliging. Then, for 3 or 4 minutes, Donghyuck will give him his undivided attention, and Mark will have to pretend that it doesn’t make him so nervous he might faint. Somehow (perhaps because it’s his literal job to perform), that never happens, but he still comes out of those interactions shaken up, and it feels unfair to him that Donghyuck doesn’t have to experience the same gripping anxiety.

The members don’t mind their little game. Sometimes, they even drop in to listen, and their presence breaks the intimacy of the endeavour. Mark finds that it’s both a relief and a bother. He’s is the only one amongst them who speaks French, but Donghyuck likes to brag that he can tell what Mark is saying by just looking at him.

“You’re an open book to me,” he lilts, grinning. “Regardless of the language.”

And that’s true, for the most part. Generally speaking, Mark isn’t one to hide his emotions, and Donghyuck has been around him for a long time. Still, Donghyuck doesn’t know everything.

He doesn’t know, for example, that when he smiles, Mark feels like the world finally makes sense. That when their skin brush, there’s a warmth that spreads from Mark’s core to the tip of his toes. Or that when he isn’t around, Mark can’t help but see him in everything.

In retrospect, there’s a lot Donghyuck doesn’t know.

 

︵‿︵‿୨ ✼ ୧‿︵‿︵

The first time he does it, it’s an accident. Hyuck wants a song, and the only one his mind supplies is an old love song he hasn’t heard in years.

“On dit que le destin se moque bien de nous, qu’il ne nous donne rien et qu’il nous promet tout,” he sings, staring at his feet. “Paraît que le bonheur est à portée de main, alors on tend la main et on se retrouve fou.”

Donghyuck must realize that Mark is avoiding his gaze; being his usual bratty self, he lies his head on Mark’s lap and forces their eyes to meet.

“The hell?” Mark exclaims, and Donghyuck clicks his tongue with an annoyed expression before pressing the older to go on with a hand movement.

Mark tries to push him away, but the kid is persistent, and in the end, Mark doesn’t have the heart to use all his force.

“Continue!” Donghyuck whines.

An exaggerated sigh.

“Pourtant quelqu’un m’a que tu m’aimais encore,” Mark sings with reluctance. “C’est quelqu’un qui m’a dit que tu m’aimais encore…”

As the words escape his lips,

As he melts into Donghyuck eyes,

“Serait-ce possible alors?”

He realizes that he means what he’s saying.

“Serait-ce possible alors?”

As the verses spill out,

He’s talking to Donghyuck,

 _He’s serenading Donghyuck_.

And every time after that,

Every time Donghyuck asks him to sing,

He chooses a love song.

 

︵‿︵‿୨ ✼ ୧‿︵‿︵

“Hyuck did really well on that on that photoshoot,” Mark comments.

“You keep babbling about him,” Johnny sighs, shaking his head.

“Me?” he replies, taken aback.

“I know you think he’s great,” Johnny continues. “That he’s cute and funny and charismatic and blah blah blah… But you never say it to his face.”

Mark frowns. “Well, I…”

Johnny glares at him with irritation and a lingering fondness. “You should be more sincere.”

 

︵‿︵‿୨ ✼ ୧‿︵‿︵

When Mark steps into his room, he finds a body curled up in the middle of his mattress.

“Jeez,” he mutters, shaking Donghyuck by the shoulder. “Go back to your own bed.”

“No,” the younger replies, voice muffled by the pillow.

“Dude, I’m tired…” Mark says, dropping by a very immobile Donghyuck.

“Me too.”

Marks rubs his temples; it’s not like it’s the first time something like this happens, and he knows that Donghyuck always wins.

“Move,” Mark instructs, pushing himself onto the bed.

Donghyuck groans but complies, and as soon as Mark is fully under the blanket, he wraps his legs around him.

“Hyuck,” Mark scolds, doing his best to keep a steady voice. “It’s too hot, stop.”

“Sing me to sleep,” Donghyuck replies groggily.

“Are you serious?”

“Mhm.”

“I’m exhausted.”

“Please.”

A short silence.

“What song?” Mark hears himself ask.

“Anything soothing.”

Mark considers the request.

“Moi je n’étais rien et voilà qu’aujourd’hui,” he begins, almost in a whisper. “Je suis le gardien du sommeil de ses nuits...”

“Go on,” Hyuck urges, squeezing his body a bit tighter.

“Je l’aime à mourir.”

He takes a deep breath, and the air smells of Donghyuck’s shampoo.

“Vous pourrez détruire tout ce qui vous plaira.”

Donghyuck hums along, and the vibrations send a shiver to Mark’s back.

“Il n’a qu’à ouvrir l’espace de ses bras pour tout reconstruire…”

The younger nuzzles against his side.

“Tout reconstruire,” he murmurs. “Je l’aime à mourir.”

As the song nears its end, Donghyuck’s breathing evens, and Mark thinks about running away (to the kitchen, to the street, to _anywhere_ but here), but a minute passes, then ten, thirty.

Mark is still there.

He stays.

He always does.

 

︵‿︵‿୨ ✼ ୧‿︵‿︵

Every now and then, Mark allows himself to confess a thing or two under the protection of their language barrier.

“Criss que t’es beau,” he mumbles.

Donghyuck frowns. “Was that an insult?”

“Uh…” Mark utters. “No.”

The other stares. “Right…”

Eventually, he starts doing it more often, and it always feels like a huge weight off his shoulders.

“Ce serait le fun, que tu m’aimes aussi,” he whispers as Donghyuck falls asleep against him for the third time that week. “Qu’on soit ensemble. Que j’puisse dire que t’es à moi.”

It’s all fun and games until one morning, when his body is functioning on 3 hours of sleep and his trilingual brain fucks up. Donghyuck is making tea, and despite his bed head, he looks absolutely lovely.

“I’d kiss you,” Mark says under his breath.

There’s a pause, and as Donghyuck eyes fill with confusion, Mark realizes his terrible mistake.

“What?” the younger lets out.

“What?” Mark echoes, and he considers yeeting out the window.

“What did you just say?”

“That I… miss… you.”

Hyuck doesn’t seem any less puzzled. “I’m right here though?”

“Yes,” Mark agrees slowly. “But we haven’t had much time to properly hang out recently.”

A pause.

“That’s true,” Donghyuck concedes, and he turns back to the tea. “Do you wanna go see a movie this weekend?”

“That’d be cool,” Mark declares, trying to breathe normally.

Donghyuck looks up again and smiles,

And there go Mark’s efforts.

 

︵‿︵‿୨ ✼ ୧‿︵‿︵

After that unfortunate event, Mark calms down with his impromptu love confessions. If Donghyuck asks for him to sing, he’ll only agree if he can think of a song that has nothing to do with romance.

They’re walking back from the convenience store when Donghyuck requests something new. Mark protests, Donghyuck insists, and Mark would punch the boy if he wasn’t so damn cute. After a his mind runs around for a minute, he somehow ends up settling for the Canadian anthem.

He sings the beginning quietly, and Donghyuck is skipping besides him, and _god, can he not?_

“...car ton bras sait porter l’épée, il sait porter la croix. Ton histoire est une épopée des plus brillants exploits.”

A deep inspiration.

“God keep our land, glorious and free, Ô Canada we stand on guard for thee, Ô Canada we stand on guard for thee!”

There’s a pause.

“That was English,” Donghyuck notes.

“Yeah...” Mark confirms, running a hand through his hair. “I only know the bilingual version, sorry.”

Donghyuck pouts. “It’s not that I’m ungrateful or anything…” he says, and Mark snickers. “But why the hell would you pick your national anthem?”

“It’s the first thing that came to my mind,” Mark lies.

“That’s so random.”

Mark mumbles something about running out of ideas.

“Can’t you go back the to the old ones?” Hyuck wonders. “I feel like I haven’t heard them in a while.”

“Oh, uh…” Mark says. “They’re a bit too cheesy.”

“As far as I’m concerned, they’re just pretty,” Donghyuck retorts with a laugh. “Besides, they sound much more romantic.”

Mark’s heart skips a beat.

“Romantic?” he parrots, in a daze.

Donghyuck offers a wide grin. “French is the language of love, isn’t it?”

“R-right.”

“Plus, you always get super intense when you sing in French,” he says. “You’re super into it. It’s almost the same level as when we’re in the recording studio.”

A nervous chuckle escapes Mark’s lips.

“I guess it’s because it’s your first language.”

“Yup,” Mark agrees, vigorously nodding. “That’s why. Obviously.”

Donghyuck sends a wink his way.

“I know you well,” he says.

Mark can't do anything but smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will I add chapters? Maybe. Idk. I'm guessing this is only truly funny/compelling to a very niche group...? If you got through, I'd be very curious about what you thought (and do mention it if you actually speak french hahah)
> 
> But hey. I laughed out loud writing this. 
> 
> ps: J'aurais plugué un "tabarnak", mais j'arrivais pas à trouver où le placer :(  
> pps: I translated the parts in French [here](https://archiveofourown.org/comments/222262165)


	2. Chapter 2

Donghyuck has never been one to fear skinship or aegyo. Being the maknae of 127, he has an excuse to act as cute and clingy as he wants with the other members. They often tell him they’re glad he’s there to energize them and that his aura makes them happy, and Donghyuck is proud of that. After all, his stage name translates to Full Sun, and he intends to live up to it.

Within the team, Mark used to be the most reluctant to accept Donghyuck's affection. Granted, he could be a bit over-the-top, but even when he just wanted a hug, it seemed that Mark's natural reaction was to immediately dismiss him. It may have been their small age difference or the fact that he wasn’t raised surrounded by the same culture… Whatever it was, it bothered Donghyuck, and the boy was set on having his way. He’d focus on Mark, try to get to him, and the fact that they so often promoted together gave him all the opportunities to find Mark’s weaknesses.

Very slowly, 

Mark fell. 

It began with a hugs, subtle touches… Small things, but from Mark, it meant a lot. The changes continued: he'd respond to Hyuck’s flirty teasing, chuckling; would smile when he made a dumb joke. Donghyuck couldn't pinpoint what exactly made Mark change, but that wouldn't deter him from revelling in what he considered a personal victory. As months passed, he tested Mark’s limits, pushing them as far as he could. One night, he found himself koala-d to the older one after watching some horror movie (a bad decision on their part), and he refused to leave the safety of Mark’s bed. 

Though it was meant as a joke,

Mark let Donghyuck stay. Let them cuddle ‘til they dozed off.

Perhaps it was because it had taken so long to get there,

But being held like that,

Feeling small between Mark's arms...

It made Donghyuck’s heart swell.

They woke up to an alarm, limbs tangled together, the older one’s face in the crook of Donghyuck’s neck. Before he could say anything, Mark was scrambling to get up.

“I need a shower,” he said, tripping over his own feet as he ran out of the room.

Of course, Donghyuck believed it was a one-time thing. Still, he felt an urge had to try his luck again _just in case_. A week later, when Donghyuck sneaked into Mark’s bed a bit after 1, he was met with no resistance whatsoever.

He liked it. Mark bending to his will. The feeling of their skin pressing when they held each other close. Warmth colliding, evening, becoming the same. The smell of Mark’s hair. The way he mumbled in his sleep.

It's hard to pinpoint what exactly made him change,

But very slowly, 

Donghyuck fell. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 190423 - Thank you so much for the love in the comments of the first chapter ;-; I really didn't think the story would be compelling for people who don't know French, but I'm happy that y'all liked it!! l
> 
> ps: shoutout à la gang whose byelingual brains sont aussi brisés que le mien
> 
> 190819 - I don’t think I’ll add more to this story ;-; Open ending, I suppose? But not really, in a sense. They’re in love ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ Expect Mark to accidentally confess at some point lmao.


End file.
